This invention relates to devices, such as photocopying or facsimile machines, which reproduce graphic images by transferring them to a photosensitive member and then to a sheet of copying paper. Typically, such image-forming devices have a casing divided into an upper unit and a lower unit which are hinged to each other at one side, and the photosensitive member is located in the upper unit. In operation, the two units are locked together.
If copying paper should become jammed somewhere in the transportation path within the machine, the two units can be unlocked from each other and the upper one rotated upward to some convenient angle, for example 25.degree., so the operator can locate and remove the jammed copying paper. At the same time, he may remove any copying paper which has failed to separate from the photosensitive member, or he may inspect it for surface damage. One problem with this arrangement is that access to the photosensitive member is inconvenient because of its location in the bottom of the inclined upper unit.
Even more serious difficulties are attendant upon removal and replacement of the photosensitive member. Since it is surrounded, in the upper unit, by such items as the charging unit, developing unit, and cleaning unit, several of these must also be removed at the same time; and when the machine is reassembled, they must be adjusted. Furthermore, there always exists the danger that the photosensitive member will be damaged by falling onto the machine's lower unit when it is released from the upper unit.